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CRA News September 2000

Selected articles from the newsletter of the Carmel Residents Association

Don Fusilier, Carmel Chief of Police    Greg D'Ambrosio, Assistant City Administrator

Thursday, September 28 -- CRA Meeting
         4 p.m. -- Light Refreshments
4:30 p.m. -- Greg D'Ambrosio and Don Fuselier
Vista Lobos Meeting Room, Torres between 3rd & 4th
Following the meeting, delicious hot and cold hors d'oeuvres

Two top city execs to speak September 28

The topic of our September meeting is the importance of history and how it affects the fiber of our community. There are no two better members of our city family to discuss this than Greg D'Ambrosio, Assistant City Administrator, and Don Fuselier, Chief of Police. Both Greg and Don have spent many years with the city, cumulatively about 57, and have very interesting stories, insights and observations to share with all of us about our village.

Greg began working for the city in Feb., 1971, as a tree worker, and within six months was asked to be City Forester. At Southern Illinois University, he had majored in both forestry and geography, minoring in landscape design. One of Greg's proudest accomplishments has been to design or collaborate with consultants on every city park since 1971. He also is responsible for establishing and computerizing a survey of Carmel's forest, encompassing both public and private property--the longest on-going tree survey in the country. In his private time, Greg enjoys rock climbing in the Sierras and Pinnacles. You can also find him on his Harley-Davidson combing the back roads of the Gold Country and eastern Sierras. At work and in life, Greg says that his challenges are to "keep centered" and to continue to make life interesting and fulfilling.

Chief Fuselier came to the city as a patrolman, then working his way up the ladder. In 1994 he was appointed Chief of Police. Like Greg, Don has a wonderfully interesting background. He had a dual major in college, theology and administrative justice, and earned a master's degree in public administration. He relishes the strong sense of community here in Carmel and on the peninsula. Don loves to go to schools and retirement groups to present programs on the Civil War. This idea came to him when his son was in school and he wanted to spark children's interest in history. He invented Isaiah Turner, a soldier in the Potomoc Regiment, and dressed the part for his school program. Work with young people continues today in his role as chaplain at the Monterey County Youth Center. Don is also a deacon at St. Dunston's Church in Carmel Valley. Just for fun, he loves to draw cartoons.

Both Don and Greg believe that the "great thing" about Carmel is its people, past and present. There is much that we can learn from them.

Please plan to stay after the meeting to enjoy the hot and cold hors d'oeuvres and socialize with fellow members. Our guest speakers will remain to answer informal questions and chat with us.

EDITORIAL

Every which way but understandable
At first glance, the Pebble Beach Company plan engineered by Clint Eastwood associate Alan Williams seems like a gift to Monterey County. However, it could also be a very clever political maneuver. Appearing on the Nov. ballot, this initiative reduces plans for 316 new houses to just 38, changes land-use designation on approximately 425 acres from residential to open-space classification and adds 12 more employee housing units. As well, it removes the limit on new hotel rooms, rezones 10 acres to permit 25 golf suites (the size of Pebble Beach Lodge), rezones 210 acres to develop a new golf course, driving range and large club house.

Fear that this gift horse might bite has been suggested by many individuals as well as the Monterey County Herald, the Pacific Grove City Council, LandWatch Monterey County, Ventana Chapter of the Sierra Club and Concerned Residents of Pebble Beach. A basic concern for most who have closely examined the initiative is that it was developed behind closed doors with no input from the public. If approved, it would revise or discard many years of work on updating the Del Monte Forest Land Use Plan and remove some of the county's discretion in making land-use decisions in this area.

The Pacific Grove City Council, urging voters to reject the initiative, passed a resolution saying, "It is the council's opinion that inclusion of multiple, complex issues in one initiative measure is inappropriate, in that public input and evaluation of many important environmental concerns are not part of the process."

A July 24 joint letter to the Board of Supervisors from Concerned Residents of Pebble Beach, Ventana Chapter Sierra Club and LandWatch Monterey County urged the Supervisors to commission a full report on this plan and to hold at least one public hearing prior to the election. They suggest that Pebble Beach is 'shortcutting' the careful scrutiny inherent in the planning process by asking the public to approve their desired land-use policy. And, because this will be an all or nothing vote, there is no opportunity to enact the good parts and eliminate those that are not in the best interests of the public. Among the concerns and questions raised in the letter:
  • The initiative eliminates the resource constraint overlay contained in the current land-use plan which says that problems with water, wastewater, traffic and circulation must be solved before development can occur. So, could development proceed before current traffic and circulation improvements are improved or before problems anticipated to be caused by their project are mitigated?
  • Preserved forest, shoreline and recreational open space are in a single category in the initiative. The Eastwood/Williams definition of recreational open space includes golf courses, the Beach and Tennis Club and equestrian center, as well as pro shops, cart shops, parking areas and barns. Could golf courses be constructed in open space areas which would not be allowed under the current land-use plan?
  • This initiative seems to override two existing conservation easements, one of which was a required mitigation for damage caused by the Spanish Bay project. Nullifying these easements could have extensive wetlands impacts and potential impacts on traffic.
  • What is the fiscal impact of the plan?
  • Is it consistent with existing county general and specific plans, the housing element and zoning code?
  • Can language in the plan saying one of its main purposes is to "encourage future visitor serving development adjacent to existing uses" be used to justify new hotel or commercial development beyond what is allowed under current law? Would it allow future expansion of the Lodge?
Before voting on this initiative, it is important for citizens to carefully review the proposed county analysis and to consider the long-term ramifications of this complicated land-use policy. With a thorough discussion by county staff, the media and the public, this measure will hopefully no longer be every which way but understandable and we will have a better idea as to whether or not this gift horse will bite.

President's Message

Commission cuts, opposition to Hatton Canyon parkland, house numbers, street mailboxes and home delivery--are we all paying enough attention to what's happening?


Whoever thought it was going to be a quiet summer was certainly proven wrong. Since last month's newsletter, events have been moving very quickly and many changes are taking place in our village.

Mail Delivery, House Numbers and Street Mail Boxes Loom

As we were awaiting the survey eliciting all of our views, postal official Daryl Ishizaki announced that there would be street addresses, grouped mail boxes and home delivery in Carmel. Those who wish may continue to pay for their boxes. This decision seems to please only the small, yet vocal minority of mostly-newer residents who want home delivery at the expense of our longtime tradition. It is now time for the Mayor and City Council to act. Many months ago, an ordinance opposing home delivery, mail boxes and street numbers should have been placed on the council's agenda so that the entire community could have a forum in which to express its views. Council members are elected to lead. The loss of our Post Office as a community center is a defining issue for Carmel. Hopefully our leaders will step forward before we again chip away at what makes us different in this ever more homogenized world!

All City Commissions Cut in Size

At the August 15 City Council meeting, the council majority voted to reduce the Planning Commission from 7 to 5 members, in spite of the commission's very heavy work load. Last month they similarly reduced all of the other advisory bodies. This will narrow the spectrum of viewpoints and ideas represented on all commissions.

The Planning Commission needs broad diversity because of its advisory role to the City Council on all land-use issues and because it interfaces with the public more than any other commission. No other advisory body's decisions so overwhelmingly impact the character of our village and the quality of our daily lives. This reduction may well also result in making the decision-making process more difficult and time-consuming due to tie votes and problems obtaining quorums. Delays and continuances will work a real hardship on applicants (the public), the staff and the commissioners. This is a loss for our community which has a long tradition of involving many people in the governmental process.

Hatton Canyon Park Opposed

Hatton Canyon has also reappeared on the horizon. This time the council, except for Barbara Livingston, decided to inform Governor Davis that the city could not support Hatton Canyon being changed from freeway right-of-way to permanent parkland. Earlier this year, Assemblyman Fred Keeley was successful in obtaining funding in the state budget and the governor's support to repay CalTrans for the monies spent on land acquisition for the freeway, thus allowing the land to become parkland. The council majority felt: 1) that because the city cannot predict future transportation needs, the property should be retained as a future option; and 2) if CalTrans were to retain Hatton Canyon, the city would have greater leverage to get the operational improvements completed on Highway One. To the contrary, support for the sale would send a clear, decisive message that Carmel continues its long-held opposition to the freeway and wants the operational improvements to be pressed forward expeditiously. Now CalTrans may interpret the council's message as an invitation to stall, thinking the freeway is not really dead.

Design Traditions and Historic Preservation Could Be at Risk

The week of August 21 saw a joint meeting of the Planning Commission and Historic Preservation Committee as well as the first council study session on Design Traditions. The issues discussed are vital for maintaining Carmel's character. There is great concern about the draft historic preservation ordinance because there is no mention of maintaining the Historic Preservation Committee or of the creation of historic districts. The standard or criteria for determining historicity will be if a property is "the first, last or only" of its kind, an approach which will leave our village with a weak, virtually non-existent preservation program. What would Monterey and Pacific Grove be like without their strong support for preservation? Marina even recognizes the importance of historic preservation. It will be telling when the council makes its final decisions on Design Traditions in September, because the essence of the project is preservation—of our neighborhood character, our ambiance, our forest and the small scale of our town.

If we think we are alone in the battle to save this incredible jewel, one can pick up a periodical or newspaper almost anywhere around the country and find coverage of the influx of money and newcomers with different values who are changing once quiet, rustic, "laid back" small communities. It all boils down to preservation in the very broadest sense.

I firmly believe that Carmelites must reaffirm their support for preservation and reject the notion that it is merely a property-rights issue supported by one small group. Not focusing on the larger picture will prevent us from saving Carmel for ourselves, visitors and the future in the face of the onslaught of money. Groups and individuals must work together now, before it is too late, to reverse the changes and trends that we are experiencing.

Monthly Beach Cleanup
Saturday, September 16
10 a.m. - noon

* Volunteers meet at foot of Ocean Avenue
* Please bring gloves
* Coffee and pastries served

Want to dig out of the morass of junk mail?

The May-June Sierra Club Ventana had helpful answers for simplifying your life and helping the environment.

To opt out of receiving catalogues and other junk mail, send a postcard to: Direct Marketing Association, Mail Preference Service, P.O. Box 9008, Farmingdale, NY 11735-9008. Include all variations of your name and your address, even possible misspellings.

To avoid sweepstakes and eliminate solicitations, call: Publisher's Clearinghouse, 1-800-645-9242; Readers' Digest, 1-800-234-9000; and American Family Publishers, 1-800-237-2400.

Other helpful ideas are to: reuse envelopes, use junk mail for scratch paper, use recycled paper for correspondence, reuse gift wrap or use the comic pages or magazine pictures to wrap presents and use e-mail instead of paper.

And, if all else fails, be sure to recycle. This helps our city attain the required level and, with our curbside recycling, it couldn't be easier to do.

Some Thoughts of Robinson Jeffers

by Alex Vardamis, President, Tor House Board of Directors, and CRA member


Do you know who was the first Carmelite to make the cover of Time Magazine? It was this town's most famous poet, Robinson Jeffers. In 1932, Time reported that under "Poet Jeffers's western-starry light" the "outlines of the American continent and of its troubled inhabitants grow colder and clearer."

Jeffers, once he arrived in Carmel in 1914, was no frequent traveler. Why should he roam? No other spot on earth was half so beautiful. Jeffers's wife, Una, said that when they came over the hill from Monterey and saw, for the first time, Carmel spread out before them, they knew they had found their inevitable place. In 1919, M.J. Murphy built them a stone cottage, Tor House, and like many recent Carmelites, Jeffers expanded on the original design. He built "a tower for his love," Hawk Tower, and instead of going out to meet others, he let the world come to him. And come they did. His visitors read like a roster of the talented and famous of the Twenties and beyond. Take Charles Lindbergh, George Gershwin and Charlie Chaplin for starters. And add to that George Simenon, James Cagney, Leopold Stokowsky, Salvadore Dali, Sinclair Lewis and the wild and beautiful poet of flaming youth, Edna St. Vincent Millay.

But Robin and Una were not merely exemplary hosts to the celebrities of their time. Robinson Jeffers wrote many of the twentieth century's greatest nature poems. He established a reputation for himself as a curmudgeon because he foresaw what tourism, development and population growth would mean for the coast he so loved. "How beautiful when we first beheld it / Unbroken field of poppy and lupin walled with clean cliffs," he wrote in his poem, "Carmel Point." But as long ago as 1954 he saw, "This beautiful place defaced with a crop of suburban houses." He foresaw what the future held and perhaps Jeffers, as the stern prophet of suburban sprawl, deserves to make the cover of Time again.

If we Carmelites grow discouraged because on every street, it seems, an old house is torn down and a new place is going up, if we want to escape into a more ecologically balanced world, we are fortunate to have Tor House, on Carmel Point, open for visitors every weekend, a gentle reminder of what once made Carmel unique, of what it means to live in harmony with our wonderful landscape.

Design Traditions Project Ready for City Council's September Review

by Francyne Laney, member of Design Traditions Steering Committee

The opportunity to carry into this century the enduring vision of Carmel's founders will be before the City Council at their September 7 meeting. The widely-supported Design Traditions Project ordinance changes have been reviewed by the Planning Commission and forwarded to the council with a recommendation for adoption. During August the council held a series of workshops on the proposed ordinance and design guidelines.

This ordinance is a carefully-crafted response to the outcry of residents lamenting Carmel's deteriorating character. Several components are key to the new approach:
  • The applicant starts with an on-site visit with the Forester and a Planner.
  • The three-track opportunities for applicants to approach the Planning Department will streamline the process, encourage more design creativity, and make the Planning Commission's job much simpler.
  • Mandatory undergrounding where possible and appropriate will reduce mass and footprint, and even allow more square footage if the property owner wishes to add additional underground space.
Copies of the complete ordinance and new Design Guidelines are available for purchase at Copies by the Sea. We encourage you to look them over, come to the City Council meeting and express yourself as a Carmel resident. This is our opportunity to seize the future.

Have you noticed?
... that the sound of pounding surf is being replaced in almost every neighborhood by the sound of pounding nails and jackhammers? At least our nights are quiet!

Three CRA authors have new books!

Have you had a chance to read Fran Vardamis' first novel, Russian Doll? The story is set in Greece, and features Police Captain Yannis Lavonis, second deputy director of criminal investigation, in Athens, who is looking for the murderer of a Norwegian artist. You can be sure the background is authentic. Fran and husband Alex lived in Athens for three years while he was the naval attaché to the embassy. And, Fran is a Norwegian translator. The book's publisher has already offered her a contract for a second in the Yannis Lavonis series. Borders Books did have a few copies of Russian Doll left. If you can't find it, Fran has a few copies at her house.

In January, Angie and Bob Irvine, writing under the name Val Davis, published the third in their Nicolette Scott mystery series, Wake of the Hornet. Set in the South Pacific, this book combines protagonist Nick Scott's interest in archaeology and historic aircraft, and deals with a religious cult of "cargo worshipers," natives who, hoping to lure aircraft loaded with rich cargo, build mock airstrips and models of airplanes. The book is available in most local bookstores.


Carmel Residents Association
P.O. Box 13
Carmel, CA 93921
Phone: 831-620-0532
      Little house in Carmel